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Seeing dynamic phenomena with live scanning tunneling microscopy

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Abstract

Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) is an excellent technique to image the surfaces of materials with extreme spatial resolution. However, it is difficult to maintain its imaging quality when applying the technique under the conditions used in many practical processes, such as chemical vapor deposition and catalysis. In this article, we describe two special classes of STM instruments that are capable of maintaining good imaging quality under “difficult” conditions, namely, one for high and variable temperatures and the other for the combination of high temperatures and high gas pressures. In both cases, we discuss the special design features that make these instruments robust with respect to the challenging imaging conditions and provide examples to illustrate how they are applied.

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Acknowledgements

This article is dedicated to our “pioneers” for the two featured STM systems, L. Kuipers, P.B. Rasmussen, and B.L.M. Hendriksen. Over a period of more than two decades, their work has been supported, augmented, and brought to further fruition by an “army” of scientific and technical staff members at Leiden University and, before that, at AMOLF, Amsterdam. Finally, we are indebted to G.J.C. van Baarle and his crew at Leiden Probe Microscopy B.V. (www.leidenprobemicroscopy.com) for teaming up with us in these endeavors and turning our prototypes into real products.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Advanced Research Center for Nanolithography, The Netherlands

    Joost W. M. Frenken

  2. Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University, The Netherlands

    Irene M. N. Groot

Authors
  1. Joost W. M. Frenken
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  2. Irene M. N. Groot
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Correspondence to Joost W. M. Frenken.

Additional information

The following article is based on the Innovation in Materials Characterization Award presentation given by Joost W.M. Frenken at the 2017 MRS Spring Meeting in Phoenix, Ariz. He is cited “for the development, application and commercialization of high-speed, temperature-controlled, in situ scanning probe microscopy, leading to key insights in the structure, dynamics and chemistry of surfaces and interfaces.”

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Frenken, J.W.M., Groot, I.M.N. Seeing dynamic phenomena with live scanning tunneling microscopy. MRS Bulletin 42, 834–841 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs.2017.239

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